Get Out of Jail Free Card

The last time the CBA was renegotiated, in 2005, a free pass was created for negligent owners. Basically, each team which was over the luxury tax was allowed to cut one player and remove their figure from their luxury tax bill. They still had to pay the player, but as far as luxury tax calculations were concerned, he disappeared immediately. After the jump, let's play a game about the possible strike next summer.

I'm expecting a strike. The owners are going to cry poverty, even after spending like drunken sailors on free agents this summer and beating the doomsday BRI projections by a wide margin last year, they're going to claim huge losses. That's just what rich guys do, they lie about how much money they're making so they can make even more. When the strike eventually comes to an end, one possible concession could be that each team will be able to cut one player and remove his salary from their cap number (in order to allow them to get under a "hard(er)" salary cap figure.

Let's say that's the case, since it's the end of August and there's nothing going on, let's try to guess which player each team would cut. Keep in mind, their contract needs to extend beyond the 2011-2012 season. Check contract info here. Brand is probably the second-easiest prediction:

Philadelphia - Elton Brand

Washington - Gilbert Arenas

Miami - Mike Miller, I guess.

Orlando - Rashard Lewis

Atlanta - Marvin Williams

Boston - Probably none

Charlotte - DeSagana Diop

Chicago - Luol Deng

Cleveland - Mo Williams

Dallas - Shawn Marion

Denver - Al Harrington

Detroit - Ben Gordon

Golden State - Monta Ellis

Houston - Possibly Kevin Martin

Indiana - None

Clippers - Baron Davis

Lakers - Luke Walton

Memphis - Rudy Gay

Milwaukee - Corey Maggette

Minnesota - Darko Milicic

New Jersey - Travis Outlaw

New Orleans - Okafor

New York - None

Oklahoma City - None

Phoenix - Josh Childress

Portland - LaMarcus Aldridge

Sacramento - Beno Udrih

San Antonio - Richard Jefferson

Toronto - Andrea Bargnani

Utah - Raja Bell

Those are my guesses, any modifications on your part? For the record, the Sixers would probably benefit from this type of CBA magic more than anyone outside of Washington.